Surface covering material



Aug. 23, 1932. v YOUNG 1,873,098

SURFACE COVER'ING MATERIAL Filed April 20, I929 A preferred composition is as follows l alzentecl 1 mg. 23, 1932 UNILT'ED STATES-PATENT OFFICE 311111. R. YOUNG, on LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG'NOR TO ARMSTRONG ooRKcor/L, .IPANY, or LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA,-A CORPORATION on -rEN sYLvA r j SURIAGE COVERING ATEnIAL i I Application filed April 20,1929. Serial 110.356,?04.

. This invention relates tosurfacecovering material and is particularly adapted for use on the running boards of automobiles, al-

though it has numerous other applications.

BL Auto mat material as used on the running boards "of automobiles must withstand consld- "erabl'e wearit mustbe water-proof, and

- must be resistant to sunlight and rain, as Well 1 as to wide extremes of temperature. 1

Linoleum compositions, particularly those having as a major ingredientpitch such as 7 1 application of S. H. Hartman, Serial No.

304,613, filed Sept. 7, 1928. Such material is preferably calendered onto a; water-proof Humphreys' paper backing, as described in ,Patent No. 1,129,571.

Parts Linoleum cement I 90 Ground cork above proportions are by weight. It is desirable to have a black composition as this permits of using linoleum scrap of any color. This composition, because of its high pitch content,is affected but'little if any, by ultravioletlight. There is therefore no tendency toward disintegration from direct sunlight,

. as is the case in ordinary linoleum mixtures.

v The above mix is also highly water resistant and will withstand considerable scufilng and abrasion. It is very little affected by expansion and contraction and bonds readilyfwith q the paper base. I Y

Automob ile manufacturers require .a ribbed surface for their auto mat material, not only because of its improved appearance, but

7 also because it gives a desirable tread surface. .50 In calendering mixtures suitable for auto e 100; Linoleumscrap 450't0 500 To the above may be added 12 parts of carl. l All fth' bon black to Insure a b 10k CO or 0 so. as to entirelyhide the pits. Preferablyit mat use, there is a tendency for the bottom of the grooves between ribsto roughen. he ribbed calender roll is-set to slip onjthe face of the goods so as to give something ofa burnishing action and thus secure a smooths face, but while this result is obtained on-the show depressions somewhat resembling pock marks. This destroys the appearance of the entire product and because of the roughened surface, it is likely to decrease the life of the material; .Water lying on the running board i of the car can get into the pits or depressions of the roughened'groovebottoms and uponv freezing cause I damage which, although slight, will, if repeated a sufhcient number of times,.ultimately affect the life and'ap pearance of the mat. 1,

I' provide for placing a paint-like mate rial in the corrugationsso as to fill the pits therein andprovide a smooth surface. The

paint-like material employed is preferably one which has a solvent action on the binder of the body material. When the filler material has such solventaction this fact, coupled with the roughness of the grooves, results in the filler material being firmly keyed to the body." In fact, flexing of the material' shows that the paint-like material very firmly adheres .to the bottoms of the grooves. 'The-pain't employed is preferably opaque is not of'suflicient thickness to entirely fill the grooves. The ribs therefore take all of the wear and the paint is not subjected to scufling. It Will therefore'preserveits survribs themselves, the grooves therebetween face appearance indefinitely. By using'a' paint or a contrasting color, very desirable efl'ects may be obtained.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating the present preferred embodiment of the invention as applied to auto mat material;

Figure 1 is a .top plan View of a portion of the material with part of theipaint-like groove .unpa1ntred, and

calender roll is shaped to provide ribs 4 alternatingwith grooves 5.

w and attaches itself verywell thereto. T Any or depressions which are formed'in the bot vtoms of the grooves by the calendermgoperation. In order to cover these pits,a paintlike material preferably employed is a nitros cellulose lacquer. This has a solvent action on the binder of the thermo-plastic material,

desired paintmay' be used but it is preferg ably of a flexible character.v

ner of applying the-paint to the grooves,

The material is pulled under'a flat edged v rubber'doctor blade 8 which, lies at angle to the direction of. travel of the material.

"depth of the lacquertherein. Those por- Ztions of-the blade which lie over-the ribs wipe the tops thereof cleanso that the body materialis' exposed onthe tops of the ribs to 7 form the wearingsurface V The-paint contains a large percentage of volatile solvent, and when this evaporates, a

filmof-desired thinness lays over the bottom and sides of the ribs. The irregularities of =-surface of the paint is smooth. The paint, after drying, does not fill the; recesses but thegrooves are overcome and the-exposed conforms generally'to the'shape thereof as indicated by dotted lines at the right-hand side of Figure 2. The invention gives thev desired ribbe'd effect'with an additional'decorative quality arising from'the contrast aiforded'by thecolor'ed lacquer andthe body material; 7

'As above stated, the paint material em ployed preferably has a'solvent'action on the binder of the body material. 'One lacquer ,mix is here given by way of exampleonly,

V asolvent'action on the material? as indicating a type 'of-paint'which will have Parts Ester" gum Tricresyl phosphate r; l 1 (Easter oil 4 Ethyl acetate- 25 Absolute alcohol -i 50 Theabove-p roportions are' by Weight. A

suitable amount of pigment is added to the In Figure 1 I'have-illustrated at 6 the pits Figure 3 showsdiagrammatically the man V the surfaces between the ribs,

above mix. 'VariOus other paints may, of course, be employed.

I have illustrated and described the present preferred embodiment of theinvention. It will be understood, however, that it is not limited to the form shown butmay be otherwise embodied within the scope ofo the following claims.' c

Iclaim: a i o 1. An auto matmaterial comprising a'body 5 of varying thickness having a-facewith recesses formedltherein, and an opaque lacquer lying inthe recesses. i a 2. Anauto mat material comprising a body having a generally plane back rand a cor-- rugated face, and a paint-like materiallying in the corrugatio'nsbut' only partially-filling thesame.v c

3. A surface covering material comprising I a'body of thermoplastic material having a. face with recesses formed therein, and a covering material lying in the recesses but? only partially filling the same, the applied covering material-having a solvent action' on the body material. J w: V

4.. A surface covering material comprising a body of thermo-plastic material having recesses therein, the recesses havingjthe charv acteristic irregularities resulting from "calendering such material, and a paintgfilling sucli l irregularities. V I l I 5. A surfacec'overingmaterialcomprising abody of-thermo-plastic material having; re

cesses therein, the recesses-having the characteristic'irregularities resultingjrom calen' v dering such material, and a paint filling suchl irregularities and extendingover the faoe'of r the recesses. 1 a 6. A surface covering materialcomprising a body having ribs formedon a surfacethere of, the spaces between the vribs having'fthe characteristic irregularities resulting from the calendering of such materiah and {a paint filling such irregularities and extending over the ribs being u'ncoated.

i 7-. An auto mat material'comprising a body having agenerally plane back and a t0p-sur-- face with: ribs formed thereon, the depress'ions between the ribs having pits or the like therein, and a paint filling saidpitsand large- .ly filling the. depressions between the ribs. r

8. An auto mat material comprising. a body having a generallyplane back and atop surface with parallel ribs extending continuous-" ly 'therealong so as-to forma seriesiof grooves between-the ribs extendingthejlength of the material, the grooves having pits or thelike' therein, and a'paint lying in the grooves and anchored in the pits, the paint largely filling r the grooves but the top. surface of the paint; o

lying below: the ,topsurface of the ribs;

'9. An auto mat material comprising a body having a generally plane back anda 'corrugated face and a paint-like material" lying the top faces oflillo my hand.

PAUL YOUNG. 

